Description

Monitoring & Gating Systems for 3 or 4 Animals

Multi-animal monitoring and gating systems have been designed to meet the physiological monitoring and gating needs for anesthetized mice, rats and larger animals in the MR, PET, CT, SPECT, Optical and laboratory environments. The Model 1200 is configured with a 3 or 4 channel ECG, respiration and temperature (ERT) data acquisition Module located near the imaging volume and near the animals and with a PC Interface (PCI) Module connected to a PC located near the operator console. The PC displays multiple waveforms, measured values, trends and gating pulses. Data acquisition is controlled by menu driven software from the PC.

MONITORING GATING
ECG Temperature Respiration	ECG Respiratory ECG & Respiratory
Three or Four Channels, One or Multiple Imaging Systems, Temperature Control, Waveform and Trend Data Acquisiiion

ECG waveforms are measured for each animal using two or three leads with sub-dermal needle, gold disk surface or radio translucent surface electrodes. Each ECG waveform is processed to detect the R-wave, generate an ECG gate and to determine the heart rate.

Temperature is measured using either thermistor or fiber optic sensors. Fiber optic sensors offer several advantage but are more expensive than thermistor sensors. The sensor can be located in the rectum or on the animal’s skin. Any animal temperature measurement can be used with the Heater System to control the temperature of the animals.

Respiration is obtained from a small pneumatic pillow sensor placed next to the abdomen or in MR from one of the ECG leads for each animal. Each respiration waveform is processed to detect inspiration, expiration, a respiration gate and respiration rate.

Auxiliary input channels allow the user to synchronize the animal’s physiological measurements with data from the imaging system which allows retrospectively gated images.

Gating algorithm, which is user configured, allows gates to be generated for each animal from ECG, respiration or ECG and respiration. The user can control the start, stop and width of each animal’s gate.